TOLEDO, Ohio — Four former Toledo city council members were in court Tuesday as their attorneys and the United States Department of Justice prepare for their January trial on corruption charges.
The then-sitting council members Gary Johnson, Yvonne Harper, Larry Sykes and Tyrone Riley were arrested in 2020 and accused of taking bribes for votes. Each faces multiple counts of extortion and conspiracy.
The arrests came after an FBI investigation that led authorities to accuse the elected leaders of taking bribes in exchange for votes on business before city council. Federal investigators claim tens of thousands of dollars changed hands in the scandal.
Local attorney Keith Mitchell also was charged in 2020. Mitchell died in 2021 before facing trial.
A Tuesday's pretrial conference before Judge Jeffrey Helmick at the Toledo federal courthouse, officials discussed final logistics for what promises to be a weeks-long trial.
All four defendants will have two attorneys apiece, so some of those logistical discussions involved the best layout in the small courtroom.
But the major point of the conference was to go over the jury selection process that will take place in the weeks ahead. Roughly 200 potential jurors will be drawn from the 21 counties in northwest Ohio. On Dec. 19 and 20, the jurors will see a short PowerPoint presentation on the case from Judge Helmick and then they will be asked to fill out a questionnaire.
Judge Helmick said he is hoping to seat 12 jurors and three alternates on the first two days of the trial – Jan. 9 and 10.
There will also be another pretrial conference in early January to hammer out any final details. The trial is expected to take several weeks.
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